Chapter Eleven. A.H.M. Jones and the end of the ancient world

It is clear in retrospect that the Later Roman Empire was published against a context in which the problems surrounding the end of the Roman empire were attracting a good deal of attention. In 1959, Santo Mazzarino had published the Italian version of The End of the Ancient World, and this came out in English translation in 1966. The influence of Jones? Later Roman Empire, especially his model of an increased bureaucracy and army, was very strong on anyone teaching the later Roman empire in the 1970s. Jones does not have much to say about the connection between or separation of east and west in the reign of Justinian or later, though in the chapter on his successors he talks about ?collapse? and of the ?calamitous years? of the Arab conquests. Jones belonged to a specific time and context, and this is reflected in his work and in his ideas.Keywords: A.H.M. Jones; ancient world; Arab conquest; Eastern Mediterranean; Justinian; late Roman bureaucratic system; Later Roman Empire; Western Empire